What is Fico Eataly World, Bologna's food city
Rights — di Tommaso Perrone
A food city in the country of biodiversity. This is Fico (also known as Eataly World), the largest agri-food park in the world, which has opened its doors. Where? In Bologna.
What is Fico Eataly World, Bologna's food city
A food city in the country of biodiversity. This is Fico (also known as Eataly World), the largest agri-food park in the world, which has opened its doors. Where? In Bologna.
There's no point beating around the bush. The moment you step inside Fico (Fabbrica italiana contadina) Eataly World, the déjà vu effect is immediate and the first thought is: "It feels like being at Expo." And there's nothing wrong or strange about getting stuck in memories, because those who wanted Fico contributed to the success (at least from a commercial standpoint) of Expo and thought that if tens of millions of visitors could be brought to Italy over six months to eat and talk about food, then there's nothing extraordinary about wanting to turn that experience into something permanent — something that contributes both to the commercial success of made in Italy and to boosting foreign tourism in Italy.
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And so it was. The team led by Tiziana Primori, chief executive of Fico Eataly World, transformed Bologna's agri-food centre (Caab) in the space of four years into a food city that opened its doors on 15 November 2017, with a target of welcoming six million visitors in four years. In Italy it is called Fico; for international visitors it is simply Eataly World.
The value of hospitality for Bologna
Hospitality is another keyword alongside "food" — repeated and underlined during the inauguration press conference by Bologna's mayor Virginio Merola, who does not merely play a symbolic role as "host". He is one in every sense, because the building and the land on which Fico stands are publicly owned and have remained the property of the metropolitan city. After all, to foster the development of innovative ideas you also need solid foundations: "We turned a risk into an opportunity. What we Bolognese brought to the table was our passion and perseverance, Bologna's desire to live through its relationships with the outside world, with other countries," Merola declared. "And in this we want to improve by increasing our capacity for hospitality, to act as a bridge with Europe," because "we tore down our walls last century."
But foundations alone are not enough. Primori, the only woman in the Fico group, supplied the rest (that is, the vision — leaving the financial side to Eataly and Coop), with a healthy dose of modesty: "My achievement was bringing together our excellences, our know-how, our dialects, and drawing out of them a place that is unique, authentic and even imperfect, but full of passion and expertise, fully representative of the Italian spirit." Oscar Farinetti, founder of Eataly, echoed that view, adding that "the problem of bureaucracy in Italy is an alibi," because it is people who determine the level of efficiency through "common sense."
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"It was a very complex undertaking," Primori added. "Coming from the cooperative movement, I believe that cooperating is a great value. So I placed it at the heart of this project, seeking at every moment to bring out the best in people and in companies, trying to make clear that being together" has a value far greater than the sum of its individual parts. A value capable of meeting even the greatest challenges, for which there is nothing that cannot be done — "so you must always find a solution, with tenacity."
Where is Fico and what is inside?
A 100,000-square-metre area (10 hectares) designed by architect Thomas Bartoli, dedicated to Italian biodiversity and craftsmanship and capable of transforming raw materials into quality food. Outside, two hectares of open-air farmland and stables where two thousand varieties are cultivated and two hundred animals live. Inside, eight hectares housing forty working factories that bring to life the typical products of the Italian table, covered by 44,000 photovoltaic panels that make up the largest rooftop installation in Europe.
And then dozens of refreshment points — restaurants and kiosks — offering tastings and food samples, as well as shops where it is possible to buy the best of Italian-made produce. After all, as Farinetti noted, "if we can afford a food city in Italy, it is because Italy is the country of biodiversity in the world," and "for this reason we can only consider ourselves fortunate." A concept summed up in the phrase at the main entrance to the agri-food park, surrounded by apples: "In Europe there are 1,200 varieties of apple. 1,000 in Italy and 200 in the rest of Europe. That is why we built Fico."
Fico is also education
One new element compared to Expo is the chance to put yourself to the test, to get your hands dirty, to sign up for paid training courses and learn alongside craftspeople and other sector experts how things are done — how to make pasta, produce natural yogurt, acquiring the technique to handle and transform ingredients. It is also educational in the sense of providing schooling — for children and adults alike — because, as at Expo, there are six mini-pavilions, here called giostre (carousels), which ex